Chapter 22 - The Tunnel Fight
Keene fired from behind the SUV.
Rounds struck concrete inches from Tessa’s shoulder.
Vance returned fire while Evelyn dragged the captured attacker behind cover.
Ruiz crawled toward the fallen detonator.
“Can you stop it?” Tessa shouted.
“I need thirty seconds!”
Keene heard.
He fired at Ruiz.
Tessa moved deliberately into his line of sight.
“Adrian!”
He turned his weapon toward her.
Exactly what she wanted.
Vance advanced from the opposite side.
Keene retreated down the tunnel.
Tessa pursued.
She could hear her father’s voice in memory.
Justice is not revenge.
She repeated it silently.
Keene disappeared through a maintenance door.
Tessa followed.
The room beyond contained electrical equipment and another exit.
Empty.
Then she heard breathing behind her.
Keene struck.
The rifle flew from her hands.
He slammed her into a concrete wall.
Pain flashed through her shoulder.
“You ruined everything,” he hissed.
Tessa drove her elbow into his ribs.
He barely reacted.
Despite his age, Keene remained trained and powerful.
He punched her once across the jaw.
She fell.
Keene drew a knife.
“Your father begged me to stop.”
Tessa looked up.
“You’re lying.”
“He begged me not to involve you.”
That sounded more believable.
“He knew you would come after us.”
Keene raised the blade.
Tessa kicked his knee.
He stumbled.
She surged upward and drove him against the electrical cabinet.
The knife fell.
Keene grabbed her throat.
“You think your father was innocent?”
Tessa clawed at his wrist.
“He helped create us.”
“I know.”
That surprised him.
She drove her forehead into his face.
Blood erupted from Keene’s nose.
He staggered.
“I know what he did,” Tessa said. “And I know he tried to fix it.”
“You forgive him?”
“I understand him.”
Keene laughed bitterly.
“Then you understand me.”
“No.”
She wiped blood from her lip.
“My father admitted when he was wrong.”
Keene lunged.
Tessa sidestepped and threw him against the wall.
Military police entered.
“Hands!”
Keene reached for the knife.
Tessa kicked it away.
Four officers tackled him.
Steel cuffs locked around his wrists.
Keene screamed.
“Do you know how many attacks we prevented? How many soldiers came home because of me?”
Tessa stood over him.
“Then those lives should have been your legacy.”
She looked at the handcuffs.
“Instead, you chose this.”
Ruiz’s voice echoed through the tunnel.
“Commander!”
Tessa ran back.
The timer showed forty-two seconds.
Ruiz held the detonator open.
“I stopped eleven signals.”
“How many are there?”
“Twelve.”
“Which one?”
Ruiz stared at the screen.
“Mercer.”
Twenty-nine seconds.
“Location?”
“Directly beneath his safe room.”
Vance shouted into the radio.
“Evacuate Mercer!”
No response.
The jammer was still active.
Tessa looked toward Keene’s SUV.
“What generates the interference?”
Ruiz pointed.
“Vehicle system.”
Tessa ran toward it.
The SUV was armored.
Doors locked.
She grabbed Keene.
“Code.”
He smiled through blood.
“No.”
“People are going to die.”
“They were always going to die.”
Vance shoved Keene against the vehicle.
“Code!”
Keene stared at him.
“Remember Kabul, Marcus?”
Vance’s fist clenched.
Then he released Keene.
He would not become him.
Tessa searched Keene’s jacket.
Key card.
She pressed it against the driver’s door.
Unlocked.
Inside, she ripped the jammer control unit from beneath the dashboard.
Communications instantly returned.
“Move Mercer!” Vance screamed.
Ten seconds.
Capitol Police answered.
“We’re moving!”
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Ruiz worked desperately.
“I can’t kill the signal!”
Three.
Tessa looked at the tunnel ceiling.
“Everybody down!”
The explosion hit.
Concrete shook.
Dust filled the tunnel.
Lights died.
For several seconds, silence followed.
Then radios crackled.
“Command, Mercer is safe. Repeat, Mercer is safe.”
Tessa closed her eyes.
No fatalities.
Keene sat handcuffed against the wall.
His empire had ended underground.
But as federal agents led him away, he looked at Tessa and smiled.
“You still don’t know who replaced your father’s medicine.”
Tessa stopped.
Keene laughed.
“I ordered his removal.”
He leaned closer.
“But I never said I carried it out.”
Then he disappeared into federal custody.
Tessa stood beneath the damaged lights.
May you like
One final question remained.
Who had actually killed Robert Marlow?
